1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sensing apparatus, which senses a physical displacement in a predetermined direction.
2. Description of Related Art
An air bag system is known as an occupant protective apparatus, which protects an occupant of a vehicle. The air bag system may include a plurality of sensing apparatuses, which sense an impact applied to the vehicle. When the vehicle collides, an air bag of the air bag system is deployed based on a sensed result of the sensing apparatuses to protect the occupant of the vehicle. For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent publication No. 2004-294419 (corresponding to US 2004/0201464 A1, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference) discloses one such sensing apparatus, called a collision sensing apparatus, which is a sensing apparatus that can sense the impact applied to the vehicle.
The collision sensing apparatus includes a G sensor, a housing, connector terminals and leads. The G sensor is a sensor that outputs a signal, which corresponds to a degree of an applied acceleration. The G sensor includes a sensing device, a communication device and a power supply circuit, which are packaged into a single package. The housing is a case, which fixes the connector terminals and receives the G sensor. The connector terminals, which are made of metal and externally and electrically connect the G sensor, are molded integrally with the housing. Furthermore, a sensor receiving portion, which receives the G sensor, is formed in the housing. End portions of the connector terminals are exposed in the sensor receiving portion, and the G sensor is connected to the end portions of the connector terminals through the leads made of metal.
The above G sensor is designed to sense only the acceleration in a predetermined direction. Thus, the collision sensing apparatus can sense only the impact in the single direction. In general, in the air bag system, the air bag is deployed based on the impacts applied to the vehicle from the various directions. Therefore, the multiple impact sensing apparatuses need to be provided to correspond with the directions of the impacts, which need to be sensed. However, in some cases, due to a limited amount of available space on the vehicle, one or more of the collision sensing apparatuses cannot be installed in consistency with the corresponding sensing direction(s). In such a case, the orientation of the G sensor in the housing of the corresponding collision sensing apparatus needs be changed. At this time, the shapes of the connector terminals or the positions of contacts of the G sensor should be changed in response to the change in the orientation of the G sensor. These changes require a change in the molding die, thereby resulting in the increased costs. This will lead to the increased manufacturing costs of the collision sensing apparatuses.